Media Monsters (Sally Young, NewSouth)
Tuesday, 4 April 2023
After breaking through to the mainstream with her 2019 Stella Prize-longlisted book Paper Emperors, academic Sally Young continues to expose the dark interplay between Australian media and politics with Media...
Anam (André Dao, Hamish Hamilton)
Tuesday, 4 April 2023
Winner of the 2021 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript, Anam is a remarkable debut novel exploring memory, family, colonialism and displacement. The narrator, a young Vietnamese-Australian man...
Desert Jungle (Jeannie Baker, Walker)
Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Nearly seven years since her last picture storybook, Jeannie Baker returns in top form with Desert Jungle, a breath of fresh air in children’s books, offering a humble and vital...
Orphia and Eurydicius (Elyse John, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Set against the backdrop of ancient Greece in a time of myth and heroism, Orphia and Eurydicius is a tale of love, courage, feminine power and the strength of stories...
The Albatross (Nina Wan, Macmillan)
Tuesday, 21 March 2023
It’s widely known that an albatross is a very rare bird. In golf, it’s a move that’s even rarer—one that’s considered lucky, executed with the utmost finesse. And golf is...
We Could Be Something (Will Kostakis, A&U Children’s)
Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Will Kostakis’s first novel Loathing Lola was published when he was 19 years old. This uncommon experience inspires his latest book, a semi-autobiographical YA novel for readers aged 14–17. We...
Eta Draconis (Brendan Ritchie, UWAP)
Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Eta Draconis is Brendan Ritchie’s impressive third novel and the winner of the 2022 Dorothy Hewett Award. This road trip story centres around two sisters, Elora and Vivienne, who are...
The Heart is a Star (Megan Rogers, HarperCollins)
Wednesday, 15 March 2023
The Heart is a Star is the captivating debut novel by talented writer Megan Rogers. We are introduced to anaesthetist Layla Byrnes, a middle-aged woman struggling to reconcile her career,...
Glimpse (Jane Higgins, Text)
Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Jane Higgins’s dystopian YA debut The Bridge was the winner of the 2010 Text Prize, and her latest, Glimpse, has the same qualities that won Higgins the prize. Inspired by...
All About the Heart (Remi Kowalski, illus by Tonia Composto, Berbay)
Tuesday, 14 March 2023
All About the Heart by paediatric cardiologist Remi Kowalski and graphic designer Tonia Composto is the first in Berbay’s new nonfiction picture book series for four- to eight-year-olds. Kowalski and...
She and Her Pretty Friend (Danielle Scrimshaw, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Danielle Scrimshaw’s debut, She and Her Pretty Friend, is a history of queer Australian women. In a light and intriguing tone, Scrimshaw pieces together what little evidence there is—letters, diary entries,...
The Sideways Orbit of Evie Hart (Samera Kamaleddine, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 14 March 2023
When 12-year-old Evie’s mum and stepdad Lee announce their separation, it feels like her whole world has been turned upside down. What’s more, Lee—the only father Evie has ever known—is...
The Fall Between (Darcy Tindale, Bantam)
Tuesday, 14 March 2023
The first body is waiting for Detective Rebecca Giles on a property in Muswellbrook, floating in a water trough. Giles is fresh out of a missing-persons case wrapped up in...
After the Rain (Aisling Smith, Hachette)
Tuesday, 7 March 2023
Aisling Smith’s debut novel, After the Rain, is the melancholic and moving winner of the 2020 Richell Prize. The story begins with Malti, a woman who moved from Fiji to...
Obsession (Nicole Madigan, Pantera)
Tuesday, 7 March 2023
When journalist Nicole Madigan starts dating single dad Adam, it seems like the beginning of an exciting new chapter for her and her children. But as the relationship progresses, something...
The Collected Regrets of Clover (Mikki Brammer, Viking)
Tuesday, 28 February 2023
The Collected Regrets of Clover is the heartwarming debut novel by Australian author and journalist Mikki Brammer. Set in New York, the book centres on Clover Brooks, a socially isolated...
Naked Ambition (Robert Gott, Scribe)
Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Gregory Buchanan is an up-and-coming state politician with a healthy dose of self-regard. A blithe spirit, he commissions career artist Sophie White to capture his portrait. The sitting takes an unusual...
Non-Essential Work (Omar Sakr, UQP)
Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Omar Sakr’s work is polished to a razor-sharp point in his third poetry collection. As expected, Non-Essential Work contends with notions around identities outside the white and heteronormative. But rather...
I Had a Father in Karratha (Annette Trevitt, Upswell)
Tuesday, 21 February 2023
When her father dies, Annette Trevitt spends two-and-a-half years organising the detritus of his life in a remote WA mining town. I Had a Father in Karratha is a memoir...
Dragons of Hallow #1: Spellhound (Lian Tanner, illus by Sally Soweol Han, A&U Children’s)
Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Lian Tanner is well known for her middle grade fantasy series, including The Keepers and The Rogues. Her latest is the first in a new series, set in the intriguing...
West Side Honey (Claire Christian, Text)
Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Claire Christian’s novel West Side Honey serves up everything you’d want from a bingeable, indulgent rom-com, all the while remaining original and exciting. When she and her ex-husband start a...
Between You and Me (Joanna Horton, Ultimo)
Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Numerous authors have invited comparisons to Sally Rooney, and Between You and Me undoubtedly will too. Similar to Frances and Bobbi in Rooney’s breakthrough debut Conversations with Friends, 25-year-old best...
Quiet Time with My Seeya (Dinalie Dabarera, A&U Children’s)
Tuesday, 14 February 2023
Quiet Time with My Seeya is the debut solo picture book by Dinalie Dabarera, whose previous illustrations in The Cat With The Coloured Tail were nominated for the CBCA Award...
Crushing (Genevieve Novak, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 14 February 2023
After being unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend of five years, Marnie finds herself alone for the first time in her adult life. As a self-professed serial girlfriend, the 28-year-old Melburnian...
Gigorou (Sasha Kutabah Sarago, Pantera)
Thursday, 9 February 2023
As women our identity and self-worth is often defined and limited by our understanding of beauty. Gigorou is a reverent and awe-inspiring foray into memoir. It is the personal genre...
Thirst for Salt (Madelaine Lucas, A&U)
Tuesday, 7 February 2023
Madelaine Lucas’s debut novel opens with the unnamed female narrator, now 37 years old, recalling a past lover. Twenty-four years old at the time and holidaying with her mother, the...
Philomella and the Impossible Forest (Doris Brett, HGCP)
Tuesday, 7 February 2023
Philomella is having a perfectly ordinary terrible day when she stumbles across a door that shouldn’t be there that leads to a library which is, frankly, impossible. Sick of being...
The Anniversary (Stephanie Bishop, Hachette)
Tuesday, 7 February 2023
The Anniversary is a book that’s hard to describe: the writing is quiet, meandering, full of thoughts on art and the act of creative expression. And yet, it is also...
The Last Daughter (Brenda Matthews, Text)
Tuesday, 7 February 2023
The Last Daughter might be one of the most important books an Australian could read. In particular, it counteracts misconceptions and disinformation about the Stolen Generations. Brenda Matthews, proud Wiradjuri...
Anchored (Debra Tidball, illus by Arielle Li, EK Books)
Tuesday, 31 January 2023
A sensitive tale of connection near, far and across the waters, Anchored is a hopeful, heartwarming story demonstrating to young children that no matter the distance between them and a...
